Careful Tottenham setting an example for how other clubs want to operate, says David Ginola

Tottenham Hotspur's sensible summer of spending is now being fully vindicated after the club's exceptional start to the 2017-18 season says former star David Ginola.

It took Spurs until the final week of the transfer window to make their first signing of the summer with the arrival of Davinson Sanchez sparking a slew of late arrivals with Paulo Gazzaniga, Juan Foyth, Serge Aurier and Fernando Llorente arriving in north London.

Despite that late flurry, their spending did not come close to that of their rivals, with Manchester City (£217.3m), Chelsea (£202m), Manchester United (£169.5m) and Everton (£152.9m) all eclipsing the relatively modest £61.4m that left the Tottenham bank account during a record-breaking summer for Premier League clubs.

With the ongoing construction of Tottenham's new 61,000-seater stadium limiting their reach in the market, Spurs' frugal spending initially caused some frustration during the window.

But Spurs have learned from past mistakes. Following the club record sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid in 2013, the club embarked on an unprecedented summer of spending, bringing in seven new players for fees totalling almost £110m. Most of those deals are better off forgotten and of the players bought in that summer, only Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela remain at the club.

And according to the club's former winger Ginola, a more measured approach this summer overseen by manager Mauricio Pochettino and chairman Daniel Levy is now paying off.

"When they sold Gareth Bale, they sold him for a €100m and they then spent a €100m, but it wasn't money spent wisely," Ginola told IBTimes UK. "You saw the return from the money spent on Roberto Soldado for example, it wasn't great. But it seems that it is not about the money you spend, because they were worried about this season. But look at this season so far, they are doing great, things are looking very promising for the future."

Spurs are currently joint second in the Premier League, level on points with Manchester United, and are on course to qualify from a Champions League group that features Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur as group winners. With some key decisions behind the scenes paying off this term, Ginola believes that many clubs should look at the way Spurs are run as an example for others to follow.

"Both performances against Real Madrid were fantastic. They will move to the new stadium next year and I think the way they have managed the team, the squad, the club, you can hear from anyone out there that this should be taken as an example. This is something we should be proud of."

David Ginola was speaking at Web Summit Lisbon on behalf of Nodds.com - a campaign to promote first aid awareness and save lives.